Iraq

I’m listening to “All I Do Is Dream of You,” by Benny Goodman. I’m sitting at my laptop. It’s 2007. It’s a bright, sunny day outside, especially considering it’s winter. I had creamy cheese, a toasted baguette and apple slices for breakfast. I’m probably going to take a shower in a few minutes. Then I’m going to smoke a cigarette. Even after 3,000 die, sometimes I really don’t feel like we’re at war.

Here’s where I unironically insert sentence about gruesome sectarian violence, IEDs, or the fact that over 120 people died last Tuesday alone in Iraq. Then I can wax on about the insipid debates spinning in Washington and their jaundiced critiques.

And I have to wonder, when will this end?

Will the political machine never stop spinning its wheels?

Are we to be satisfied with the constant debate surrounding Iraq when civilians and soldiers continue to die?

Politicians, journalists and bloggers have offered, or demanded, something in regards to doing something, even deciding on something, soon, about Iraq. Then the Iraq Study Group released their report in mid-December. Now, the debate continues. The violence worsens. And, I guess, the military waits for George W. Bush to make his choice–increase troops or phase out? Maintain security or let Maliki take up responsibility for rebuilding the country? Deal with Syria and Iran…or not?

What’s it gonna be?

A solution won’t be as simple as sticking to one of these formulas, too bad–that’s why the ISG report has a dreary 79 points, many of which seem untenable under our current circumstances, or are initiatives we should have undertaken long ago. Now the media machine is diligently covering Saddam’s hanging, which by Anderson Cooper’s account is reminiscent of a sectarian lynching. Like almost everything else that has happened over the past few years, Saddam likely shouldn’t have been hanged in the first place. Now we’ve got a new aspect of the Iraq war to be bitter about.

Still, after all of this, I wonder, where, and who, are some of the people that are actually on the ground? Mad props go to Riverbend at Baghdad Burning, Iraq Body Count and C.J. Chivers at the New York Times. Also. But it’s not enough. I want to hear what Caldwell and Abizaid really think. They are in Iraq, after all, whereas the decider and his band of cronies are holed up in the Situation Room. The bastards.